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trouble hiding ceiling tape joints

just a little background, i have a serious issue with perfection, especially if its a craft i'm learning and tackling for myself on my own projects.

after investing a lot of time with my virgin journey on my new home hanging and taping, ill admit i did good so far for my first time, but its not acceptable enough for me...so ill continue to mess with it until its professional

after a little reserach, what im trying to achieve is the so called "level 5 finish"

i have a large great room in which i tore down two nonbearing walls to create, half of this new great room needed old texture paint sanded off...then a skim coat, prime, and paint...now it looks perfectly smooth.

the other half required fresh sheetrock and taping.. so i did 3 coats...even 4 coats on my tape joints....sanded, sealer-primer, and painted....however, i neglected to skim coat the entire area...unaware that it would help.

now my tape joints are showing greyish areas that disrupt a perfectly smooth white finish in natural light...so i hit these areas with a second and third coat of paint to see if theyd hide...still no luck.

now these joints even feel perfectly flush to the hand, but after multiple coats of paint still show...so i even went in with yet another 12" knifing tight over my joints,, reprimed, repainted.... still showing.

please see attached photos:

my only thought is, the paint is "taking" different on the joint compound than the paper...even after a few coats of paint...still the slightest texture difference
at this point, im guessing i have to skimcoat the entire area so every inch is covered in compound to get my desired result.

Comment

You are aware that a level 5 finish requires skim coating the entire surface ?

You have a lot of build up on those tape joints regardless of your efforts. Someone with more experience than myself I hope can advise how the joints will blend in with a full skim coat to get your desired results. What primer exactly did you use on the dw maybe part of the problem ?

I'll give you a suggestion. Its not going to be the top level response I hope you will be provider here but it has worked well for me when needed.

Using a 1/2 " nap roller prime the entire surface with with a liberal coat of this hi - build primer (there's a difference between dw primer, hi build / hi - hiding primer and pva primer). It dries to a few mils thick and levels out much imperfections. You then lightly sand with #150 or #220 and it will come out very smooth.

Comment

you could try to skim coat a part of the problem area and see if that gives you the results you want. The other thing I have seen happen is as you said. Joint cement and paper face on drywall look differently under the same light, even after several coats of paint. Try doing a light sand on the ceiling that you are having the trouble with. Sometimes the paper area will "fuzz" up some and a light sanding can help even it out and make it look the same as the rest of the ceiling.

Hope you got some ben gay type product for your shoulders and neck-sounds like you are in for a battle to get it perfect.

Comment

My drywall contractor is finishing a job for me right now. It's about 2500 feet of surface area, including a very large continuous ceiling that used to be three rooms. He is making it come out really, really well, and when I look at what he did after he's gone, it's almost perfect as it comes off his tools. He doesn't waste any time or moves, he doesn't waste any mud... he makes it look so easy. No way I would ever attempt to do it unless I started at the bottom, learning from him or someone else that's as good.

I did hang the board, though. That I can do, it's a lot more like carpentry.

Comment

You are aware that a level 5 finish requires skim coating the entire surface ?

You have a lot of build up on those tape joints regardless of your efforts. Someone with more experience than myself I hope can advise how the joints will blend in with a full skim coat to get your desired results. What primer exactly did you use on the dw maybe part of the problem ?

I'll give you a suggestion. Its not going to be the top level response I hope you will be provider here but it has worked well for me when needed.

Using a 1/2 " nap roller prime the entire surface with with a liberal coat of this hi - build primer (there's a difference between dw primer, hi build / hi - hiding primer and pva primer). It dries to a few mils thick and levels out much imperfections. You then lightly sand with #150 or #220 and it will come out very smooth.

Comment

you could try to skim coat a part of the problem area and see if that gives you the results you want. The other thing I have seen happen is as you said. Joint cement and paper face on drywall look differently under the same light, even after several coats of paint. Try doing a light sand on the ceiling that you are having the trouble with. Sometimes the paper area will "fuzz" up some and a light sanding can help even it out and make it look the same as the rest of the ceiling.

Hope you got some ben gay type product for your shoulders and neck-sounds like you are in for a battle to get it perfect.

im going to try the hi build like happy mentioned, but ultimately may have to skim so ill play with an area, it really shouldnt take too long and i have a rolling 3' platform to work off of

Comment

I figured you used a low nap roller. You didn't have the surface yet to use it. You can use that after the hi build sanding. The hi build will come out smooth like the dw compound or plaster when you sand it.